Callid immediately lost interest in those letters.

However, Acid quietly handed him one letter and said,

“There’s a letter with no sender listed. Should I check this one too?”

At that, Callid lazily rolled his eyes to look at the letter.

‘Hmm.’

Normally he would have just ignored it, but thinking about Raul returning to the empire empty-handed put him in a good mood. It was a whim. He reached out and picked up the unmarked letter.

Most of the letters sent to him were merely invitations from unremarkable houses.

Those who wanted to curry favor with the First Prince Raul but lacked the ability to do so reached out to Callid instead. By showing even fake interest to Callid in that way, the First Prince’s faction would try to win them over.

‘…Annoying bastards.’

This letter was surely the same.

Not listing the sender was probably just a ploy to grab attention.

However, today he decided to be generous and at least read it, tearing open the corner of the letter.

“Hmm?”

Callid’s expression slightly hardened as he skimmed through the letter.

“What’s the matter?”

At the puzzled question, Callid handed him the letter.

Showing him the letter meant it probably didn’t contain anything too important.

Acid quietly received the letter and examined its contents.

“…Your Highness. Could this be a letter from the First Prince’s faction?”

“Who knows.”

Along with the statement that there is no gold mine here, and the question of whether he wants to know the true location.

How did it arrive at such a precise timing?

“…Kuk.”

They themselves had only confirmed today that there was no gold mine here.

Yet the sender of this letter already knew that fact. If the First Prince’s faction knew that fact, they wouldn’t be continuing their investigation like this, would they?

Callid smiled amusedly.

“Find out who it is.”

This letter had been sent to the Second Prince’s Palace in the empire.

Adding the transit time from there to him, it must have been written at least a week ago.

Does this mean the sender realized the presence or absence of a gold mine much faster than they did?

“First, withdraw the retreat order.”

It seems we’ll have to stay in the Kingdom of Ronica until we find the owner of the letter.

There’s no urgent matter anyway, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

Since it’s come to this, it might be good to visit the capital of the kingdom to see the face of that slippery older brother of mine.

Callid disliked Raul’s artificial attitude of pretending to be a nice person.

It was also ridiculous to see him act like a kind older brother who covers for such a sibling while spreading all sorts of dirty rumors behind his back. It was also laughable to see him try so hard to pretend otherwise while feeling inferior to him.

‘Come to think of it, I heard he’s been following around the princess of this place lately…’

That guy who lacks nothing is following someone around?

I’m also curious to see what kind of trick he’s trying to pull.

Moreover, when he unexpectedly encounters me, I’m quite interested to see what attitude he’ll show in front of that princess. The corners of Callid’s mouth curved upwards.

“Find out as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, understood.”

Acid bowed his head and hurriedly approached the knights to carry out the order.

Callid brushed back his fallen hair and once again took in the sight of the investigation team.

‘Saying they know the real location of the gold mine…’

Heh.

Callid let out an amused laugh.

* * *

It had already been two weeks since sending the letter.

It seems the letter wasn’t properly delivered to the Second Prince.

Bellia slammed her fist on the desk and stood up.

She couldn’t wait any longer. Now it really seemed like she needed to think of another method.

Raul still constantly tried to persuade her at every opportunity.

The honor and wealth she could gain if she chose him.

It was pathetic to see him struggling so feebly to lure her with those illusory things she had already experienced, but she couldn’t just leave things as they were.

After all, he was the First Prince of the empire, and the emperor’s beloved child. Surely as time passed, things would progress as he wished.

‘…First, I need to refuse the proposal.’

Just what method should I use to refuse?

No matter how much she pondered, there was no clear answer.

‘At times like this, it would have been nice if Brother had spoken strongly to Father.’

Herald still seemed to be hesitating a bit, considering the relationship with the empire.

Bellia stopped pacing around the room.

Come to think of it, there was one more person in the kingdom who could help her.

Derek of the information guild Lunes.

He was someone she absolutely had to join hands with to fight against Raul.

Moreover, he was also one of the people who had remained on her side until the very end in her previous life.

‘What was the fake identity he used in the past…?’

Bellia’s expression brightened as she quietly recalled her past memories.

A vague conversation she had briefly at the imperial palace long ago flashed by.

There were several options, but it was a manageable number to look into thoroughly.

If she could borrow his strength, there might be a clever way to refuse Raul’s proposal.

Bellia quickly changed into inconspicuous clothes and called for her guard knight, Ben.

“Sir Ben.”

“Yes, Princess.”

“We need to prepare to go out.”

Though it was a sudden outing, Ben simply followed quietly behind her.

To Ben, recent Bellia seemed like a completely different person overnight.

She used to always quietly read books in the library or garden, but lately she had been doing things that made no sense at all.

But given the Bellia he had known so far, she would surely proceed with matters intelligently.

Having thought that far, Ben erased his worries and simply sharpened his senses to protect her as a knight should.

The carriage carrying Bellia left the royal palace and headed into town.

Bellia alighted at the central square of the town, then put on a robe. It was stuffy, but unavoidable as someone might recognize her as the princess.

“First we’ll go to the restaurant, then to the cafe afterwards.”

“Yes.”

“And then the bookstore.”

If not those three places, it would be the tavern.

We needed to quickly go around and check, then move on.

“Let’s go.”

Bellia briskly walked into the restaurant that was closest among today’s target locations.

With the ringing of a bell, a waiter scurried over. Bellia smiled brightly and asked,

“I came looking for a diamond on the third floor?”

“Ah, I’m sorry… We’re a restaurant. The jeweler is across the street, ma’am.”

“Oh my. I’m sorry. I mistook the shop.”

Bellia covered her mouth as if startled.

Then she left the shop with Ben, letting out an embarrassed laugh.

It wasn’t the restaurant.

She knew that aimlessly going around like this wasn’t exactly a good method, but it was the fastest and surest way.

So there was no choice but to visit all the shops Derek had mentioned before.

After confirming the cafe wasn’t it either, she headed towards the bookstore. And after verifying even the bookstore wasn’t the hideout of the information guild Lunes, Bellia sighed and was about to greet the owner and leave when.

Thud.

Her robe came off as she collided hard with someone entering the bookstore.

Her dazzling silver hair, like finely spun silver threads, flowed down.

Bellia hurriedly put the robe back on, but the man had already seen her unusual hair color and expressed his surprise in a deep, low voice.

“Ah…?”

Bellia quickly lowered her head.

And Ben approached in front of Bellia to block him.

The man was clearly dressed like a nobleman at first glance.

Though he hadn’t seen such a person among the nobles of the Kingdom of Ronica, he could be an imperial noble who came to meet Prince Raul, so he first politely apologized to him.

“I apologize. It seems our young lady made a mistake.”

“…Young lady?”

Despite Ben’s polite attitude, the man smiled as if amused and didn’t move away from the door.

“We have finished our business and are trying to leave. Would you please step aside?”

“I don’t want to.”

The man swept back his dark hair and grinned.

His brilliant blue eyes sparkled with interest.

His gaze remained fixed on Bellia.

“Calling her ‘young lady’, I assume she must be a daughter from some noble family?”

From his voice mixed with laughter, Bellia sensed it.

He must have surely realized her identity.

Finally, after signaling Ben to stop, Bellia stepped forward and spoke.

“First, it would be better to talk outside as we’re inconveniencing passersby.”

Seeming to agree with that, the man slightly moved away from the door.

Coming outside to face the man, his appearance came into view. His tall stature and sturdy build were noticeable, but his dark hair and cold gaze seemed to make his aura even darker.

An extremely chilling atmosphere.

That sharp feeling, as if one might get cut just by being near him, indicated he was no ordinary person.

It wasn’t as refined as a knight, nor did it feel like a ruffian.

His unbuttoned shirt made him look casual, but the subtle coldness he exuded made it difficult to approach him.

“Well then, as the young lady said, shall we have a proper conversation now that we’re outside?”

“If your purpose is to pick a fight, you should stop there.”

Bellia said with a sigh.

“A fight… That’s a bit hurtful. Rather, you should have something to say to me.”

The man muttered, touching his chin.

Puzzled by the sudden remark, Bellia raised her head to look at him.

At that moment.

“What brings you here?”

Someone strode over and grabbed Bellia’s wrist, pulling her towards himself.

Then he naturally inserted himself between her and Callid.

“…Your Highness Raul.”

Bellia frowned as she looked at Raul who was holding her.

How did he come here?

There’s no way they met by chance.

‘…Was I followed?’

He must have heard that she left the palace and followed after assigning someone to her.

He probably intended to pretend it was a chance encounter.

“Please let go of my arm.”

“Did he perhaps intimidate you?”

“No. So please let go now.”

Seeing him act as if he was someone important made her skin crawl.

More importantly, he seemed to know the man in front of them. Just who is he?

As Bellia wondered about this.

The man who had been quietly observing them burst into laughter.

“Hahaha. So it was like that after all.”

“Callid. I asked why you came here.”

Callid?!

Bellia stared at him with wide eyes in surprise.

Dark hair and blue eyes. And that arrogant and relaxed attitude.

It matched the appearance of the Second Prince she had only heard rumors about.

“Well, I’m just a good-for-nothing wandering here and there, you know?”

He had come to Ronica by chance.

Callid casually replied to Raul’s sharp question.

“I heard you were here, brother, but I didn’t expect to run into you in the middle of the street like this.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Callid approached Raul and took Bellia’s hand that he had been holding.

“What are you doing?!”

“Ah, my brother was blocking someone I have business with.”

Answering nonchalantly as if bothered, Callid whispered quietly in Bellia’s ear.

“I was going to look for you anyway, what good luck.”

Startled by those words, she stared blankly at Callid, who pulled up the corners of his mouth leisurely and asked,

“Isn’t that right, Princess Bellia?”